The Genesis File
by Clement Rage
Summary: What passed between Tseng and Elena while in captivity. TsengElena. Just a random idea. Enjoy. Formerly known as 'Captured'. Changed the name to celebrate 4000 hits. Nothing to do with the character Genesis.
1. Elena

**Captured**

Oddly, Elena never once feared for her life during the battle. Once Jenova's head had been passed up to the helicopter, her thoughts centred between _'Oh, great_. _First Wutai, now this. If I keep this up, I'll end up a regular damsel in distress' _and the old Turk favourite, '_God, I need a drink.'_ Later, she believed she had held her own while fighting, judging by the burns and bloody holes in Loz, but had very little memory of the actual fight. Eventually, in any case, he got close enough to use his electric stunner, and that was that.

When she woke up, she was in the City of the Ancients, totally naked and tied to a rack. Kadaj and co. spent the rest of the day beating her up and screaming "Where's Mother!?" at her till they were hoarse. At the end of the day, they threw her into a cell with Tseng and gave up in disgust. It was odd. She'd been trained in basic torture, and knew a bit about it. There were generally two types of torturer, Artists and Thugs. Artists could cause an unbelievable amount of pain without leaving a mark, but you could rely on them not to kill you by mistake. Thugs just beat you up, tearing off limbs if necessary. Kadaj and co. went about things the right way, taking their clothes and torturing them in front of each other to make the other cooperate, but hen it came to actual torture they just beat you up normally. On the other hand, she still had all teeth, limbs, eyes, and nails. So did Tseng, as far as she could tell.

Normally, she would be frantic with embarrassment at this point, but pain was not conducive to chagrin. Nor was cold, and as the Ancient City was only just below the snowline and the Ancients had had yet to master the dynamics of The Door, their cell was draughty, an iron gate hastily installed by their captors recently their barrier to escape. All of which made her climb under their cell's single blanket without a second thought, glad of somebody else's warmth.

- - - - - - - -

_This is just some random thing I was thinking about. Enjoy._


	2. Tseng

**Chapter 2 –Tseng**

Elena was surprisingly warm, if damp (it had been raining when they brought her from the torture chamber to his cell), which was good news. For both of them. If she'd been cold, it's probably mean she was near death. It also meant Tseng had something more than the one blanket they'd been given (with a Shinra logo on it, it certainly wasn't a relic of the ancients) to keep him warm, if he wanted to be selfish about it.

_Warm, wet, and incapable of shutting up. If she was any furrier she'd be a puppy._

No. That was unfair. She'd come back for him in the Temple of the Ancients, knowing Sephiroth and AVALANCHE were inside. That had taken guts. Reno and Rude continually told him 'the rookie' was good at her job if you just left her alone. Where had that venomous, spiteful thought come from? Odd...Maybe he should give her more rope when -if- they got out of this. Unfortunately, that wasn't too likely. They could hardly escape, and who'd bother to rescue them? Reno and Rude MIGHT try, unless Rufus ordered them not to. And if they did, it was unlikely to work unless Kadaj and co. were elsewhere, and if THAT happened, Tseng and Elena would probably be dead. They would last exactly as long as Kadaj decided he needed them, no longer. So if Elena caved under the torture...

Tseng had to admit, that wasn't too likely. She could show surprising resolve when pushed. Take now, for example. Locked into a cell with somebody she'd previously been in total awe of (she'd largely outgrown that, but sometimes traces showed through), but now, she didn't seem at all bothered. Which was more than he could say. Wrapped tightly around him, one hand idly tracing designs on his back, she could have been at ho- Wait. He looked up. Her expression was focused, not relaxed, with maybe a touch of irritation that he hadn't realized sooner that those 'designs' were a bit too regular for a nervous twitch. He concentrated.

HELLO? STILL AWAKE, TSENG?

Drawing a Y on her back with the hand already resting between her shoulder blades, he said aloud "You okay?"

"So far. You?"

TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH. SO WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?

"Fine."

US? NOTHING. JENOVA'S HEAD IS NOT OUR PROBLEM ANYMORE. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, ESCAPE?

"What's going on?"

ESCAPE? HOW? WE'VE NO MONEY, NO CLOTHES AND NO WEAPONS. WE WOULDN'T GET A 100 METRES.

"Evidently, we've been captured by those people who want Jenova's head."

RIGHT. SO, NOW, OUR PRIORITIES ARE TO LIVE AS LONG AS WE CAN, WITH AS MUCH OF US AS POSSIBLE INTACT. WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE. UNLESS YOU HAVE A PLAN?

"I figured that much."

NOPE.

"What else can I tell you? I don't know any more about this than you."

Keeping up two conversations at once was beginning to confuse him, so he said

ONE THING...IF YOU CAN, DON'T LET THEM KNOW WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HEAD IS...ONCE WE'RE NO USE TO THEM...

He wrote the three dots to make sure she got the message. She rolled her eyes.

I'M NOT COMPLETELY STUPID.

(SHRUG) JUST MAKING CERTAIN. NIGHT, ELENA.

"Mmmm."

- - - - - - - - - - -

_Is anybody reading this? _


	3. Chapter 3 Elena

The next morning was worse than the first. This time, there was a sense of urgency about their torture, and Elena lost three fingernails from her left hand by the time they finished. But, they seemed oddly reluctant to use outright mutilation, and she hadn't lost actual digits yet. Eventually, tiring of their prisoner's silence, Loz tried to rape her-and failed owing to embarrassment...on his part, a fact which reduced her to hysterical laughter. She probably shouldn't have spoken then, but "What age are you, boys? I could get arrested" had just slipped out. Wordlessly, Kadaj had broken her jaw. If she hadn't tilted her head at the last instant, she would probably have choked to death on her own teeth.

Then they'd spent a quiet half hour, beating the crap out of her long after the sheer volume of blood coming out of her had shut her up. Eventually, they'd given up in disgust, Kadaj reining them in with a snarled "This isn't working. Let's go find Big Brother." Then they were thrown back into their cells. They hadn't seen their captors since. She was drifting in and out of a doze, unable to even stand. Tseng had to actually carry her from the door to their bed. Every time she woke up, the blanket was redder. Odd...blood was such a pretty colour. Why hadn't she noticed before? Maybe she just hadn't seen it in such quantity.

Tseng looked on as she slowly bled to death, helpless. He had nothing to use as a bandage. Even their blanket was made of synthetic material that he couldn't tear up. Maybe Kadaj was afraid he'd turn it into a noose.

After some time, some guy in a tattered red cloak strolled in, tossed them their clothes, weapons, and some Hi-potions, then walked off again without a word. Tseng forced a Hi-potion down her throat, despite the agony this caused her, and then helped her dress enough for decency. He found his phone still in the pocket of his jacket, and rang for a chopper. While they were waiting, gunshots sounded around the city, which might have scared them if they'd been in any condition to care, but Elena was semi-comatose and Tseng wasn't much better. He dressed too, but stayed within arms reach, because speaking was now beyond her, and he had to try keeping her conscious.

"Are you okay?"

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

"I think you're losing a lot of blood, but you're still coherent, which is normally a good sign."

CARE TO MAKE A SMALL WAGER ON THAT?

"Why? If I'm wrong, you won't be around to collect."

AND IF YOU'RE RIGHT, WHAT DO I OWE YOU?

"How bout that dinner that never materialized?"

She tried to laugh and screamed instead. Her hand dropped away from his spine and went limp. Distantly, she heard him mutter "Okay, bad choice of topic..." before everything went black.

* * *

_I know Elena would probably recognise Vincent, but she's barely coherent just now_


	4. Chapter 4Tseng

_I've never tried writing romance before. How'm I doing?_

_N.B.I've never broken my jaw, so I don't know how long it takes to heal._

**Chapter 4-Tseng**

It was two weeks later. Geostigma had been eliminated, and Sephiroth had been killed (again). The two halves of Jenova's head had been recovered and blasted into space inside a leftover test rocket. This would inconvenience her slightly. Cloud was making a fortune delivering building materials for the reconstruction of Edge. Wounds had healed. Or, at least, most of them.

The Turks had been hit hard. Tseng was mostly recovered, but Rude was still in hospital being treated for concussion and a fractured skull after a billboard had fallen on his head. It was amazing he'd even lived, never mind keeping working til after Yazoo and Loz had been blown up. Several junior members of the Turks were being treated for shrapnel wounds. And Elena...

Broken jaw, ribs, and perforated lung. Blood loss. Frostbite and pneumonia. And why? Because she was supposedly the least trained, the 'rookie.' But she'd held out.

Shinra's insurance policy would spring for treatment, but not a bed, so she'd been sent home. And because half of Edge had been destroyed, she was already back at work, if only in the office. It was something of a joke. For the first time in memory, a member of the 'Administrative Research' department was actually doing administration work.

_Maybe I should stop by on my way home, _Tseng thought, as he handed in his official weapon at the desk. The W.R.O. imposed strict laws against Shinra officials carrying their weapons home. Reeve was not about to let them get strong enough to pose a threat. There was no law against owning a personal sidearm, though, and most people had at least one. Since Edge had been destroyed, the monsters had moved in. Not all of them the rip-your-throat-out-to-feed-my-hungry-cubs variety either, as the two thugs who stepped out in front of him now proved.

"Money or your life!" the first thug growled.

Tseng sighed. "Do you know who I am?"

"No, should I?"

"...Hey, he's wearing a Turks uniform..." said the other thug, who was obviously a faster thinker.

"That's right. Now, I don't get paid until Thursday, so I guess it's my life...if you want to risk it." They fled. Tseng smiled. Reputation. Damned inconvenient most of the time, useful on occasion.

When he finally got there, he found himself inexplicably nervous when he knocked on the door. He couldn't imagine why. It was perfectly okay for him to visit an injured colleague, and she was in no condition to attack him even if she wanted to, which was fairly unlikely. Maybe it was just the aftermath of being tortured.

When she opened the door and saw who it was, she visibly flinched, probably thinking he was there to berate her for getting her stupid self shot, as if she could have done anything about that. She really thought that a good Turk should be infallible, not to mention able to dodge bullets like those guys from The Matrix. Still looking scared, she raised an eyebrow at him, which he correctly interpreted as 'What are you doing here?' He thought about saying something like 'Here to kill you.' but dismissed it on the grounds that she might take him seriously. The idea wasn't as crazy as it sounded.

"Just passing by, and decided to see how you were doing."

She shrugged and moved back, gesturing for him to come inside, still looking wary. As soon as he stepped inside, she flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him, so suddenly he thought he was being attacked. Then she started drawing on his back and he realized what was going on.

SORRY ABOUT THIS, SIR, BUT I CAN'T SPEAK AND THOSE PORTABLE CHALKBOARDS SHINRA GAVE ME DON'T HAVE SPACE FOR A SENTENCE LONGER THAN TWO SYLLABLES.

"It's okay. So how're you doing?"

FINE SO FAR. I'LL BE TALKING AGAIN IN ANOTHER WEEK, I'M SURE YOU'LL BE DEPRESSED TO HEAR.

"Nah. You balanced out Rude." She still was tense, and he realized he was going to have to provide some other reason for his visit.

"Oh, Elena?"

YEAH?

"You're right, there was another reason I'm here." She visibly relaxed. He could almost hear the thought-_Business as usual- _passing through her head.

OH?

"I'm gonna need you to deliver the Genesis file."

THE WHAT? WHAT'S THAT?

_Damn. _He hadn't thought this far ahead. "I don't know. I made it up."

She laughed. COOL SOUNDING NAME THOUGH. LIKE 'THE OMEGA REPORT' OR 'TOP SECRET FILES.' Happily, she showed no sign of tensing again. Actually, the reverse. She was leaning into him, putting more of her weight onto the arms wrapped around him, and he was more conscious of her pressed against him than he had been in the City of the Ancients. Some of that probably had to do with the fact that they were both clothed now (Shinra's cadets had communal showers for both genders, which led to a string of one night stands, broken hearts, and a deep distrust of naked people not in bed), but not all of it.Like most, when she'd first met Elena, he'd dismissed her as just some hyper, over enthusiastic kid who never seemed to shut up. Respect had come slowly. It had started when she'd come back for him in the Temple of The Ancients. After she'd met Cloud several times and survived, his respect had risen another notch. Then there was the simple fact that she'd survived two years of Shinra politics. Finally, in the North Cave and the Forgotten City, she'd acted with insane bravery and resilience, and he now thought of her as an equal, worthy of respect and perhaps even caution. Therefore it was unfortunate that at some point during that train of thought he'd leaned over and kissed her. Her eyes, which had been closed in concentration, opened in shock. Jerking back from her as though she burned, he waited for the outburst –or worse, reluctant submission for the sake of her job. Then she grinned, took his hand, and led him upstairs. At the door of her room, with its huge, beautifully warm double bed, he leaned across and looked into those huge, beautiful grey eyes, and on the pretext of kissing her again, came to two conclusions.

One, if that wasn't genuine delight on her face, the stage had missed a major talent, and two, he'd just fallen in love.


	5. Chapter 5:Elena

Chapter 5- Elena

Elena woke up to a sharp pain in her left eye. Tseng was gone, naturally, she'd heard him go, but she'd pretended to sleep because if she showed any sign of life, he'd probably come back to bed, and she didn't want him to be late for work. He'd tried to leave twice before then, but each time her kiss goodbye had ended up with him back upstairs, on the second occasion with his clothes strewn around the hall. He'd had to go get them in a pink bathrobe belonging to her, a repulsive fluffy one, the kind of thing you didn't just throw away in case the rubbish collectors laughed at you. So of course she'd _had_ to take a photo with her phone. It'd make the most unbelievable blackmail material, should she ever need it. Not that she planned to, but with Shinra politics the way they were, you never knew.

Getting up, she realized what the pain in her eye was as blood spattered over the pillow. He'd left her a present. A rose. God knew where he'd gotten the thing. Edge was in the Midgar wastelands, where nothing grew except the flowers in Aeris' church and those weren't roses. Besides, Cloud would cut your head off if you so much as looked at them, given the battering they'd taken when Kadaj and Cloud had decided to drive motorbikes over them. The gesture wasn't lost on her, and she was genuinely touched, but she'd rolled over on top of it during the night, and it had thorns.

After She'd bandaged herself and put the rose in a jar (the water turned pink instantly, but she left it, it was a cool effect), she picked up the phone. It'd just began to ring when she remembered she couldn't talk and hung up. Instead, she text one of her friends. 'Hey, cud u phone Shinra and tell dem I'll be late 2nite? Sum idiot left a rose on my pillow & I cut my throat on it during the night. Tanks.'

Her duty done, she walked over to her computer. Not the one she'd been given by Shinra, a private one with no external links. Absently rubbing a toothmark on her left shoulder, she wondered vaguely why he'd come to her. Some of the female junior Turks were a lot prettier, and Ree was genuinely beautiful.

_Heh...not that I'm complaining._

He obviously hadn't been expecting to kiss her like that, or to take things so far, but he hadn't been put off by her inability to kiss him back. Her throat and breasts seemed to have been reasonable alternatives. It was odd, seeing the normally unflappable Turk leader obviously out of his depth, but fun too. What'd it be like if he came back when she had full use of her mouth back? Hmm...interesting thought...

_Focus, Elena!_

Getting back to what she was doing, she loaded the photo of Tseng to her computer from her phone, then deleted the one on her phone.

_Now...what should I name the file? 'Blackmail material' is a bit too obvious if anyone else is in here, even though they couldn't possibly get past the encryption system. So what...Ah._

Smiling slightly in a way that would've given Tseng a heart attack if he'd seen it, she bent low over the computer and typed in 'The Genesis File'.

* * *

Hi. One chapter left. Sorry if this is OOC. 


	6. Chapter 6: Reno

**Chapter 5: Reno**

"The boss seems unusually happy today," Reno noted as Tseng walked past on the way to his office "You think he's okay?"

Rude remained silent.

"And he was late today, and _that's_ unprecedented."

"He wasn't late."

"Well, relatively speaking. C'mon, I haven't beat that guy to work in eight years."

"...Wark."

"What?"

"He said 'Wark', Reno," a passing employee carrying a stack of files put in helpfully "As in 'Stop being such a Mother Chocobo'. Right?"

Rude nodded. Reno threw his Mag-Rod at him. It clipped the side of his head, knocking off his sunglasses. They skittered across the floor, twisted and broken.

"Hey! Those are designer sunglasses!"

"Then you shouldn't wear them to work. Besides, I know you always carry at least three pairs anywhere you go."

"Hey guys, stop flirting. We have a schedule to meet." Reno and Rude exchanged glances, then followed Tseng, who was looking over his shoulder at them.

"Tseng, you just very nearly made a joke. Congratulations. All it took was seven years of devoted lunch breaks. If I keep trying for another twenty five, you might eventually be funny."

"Hmph. I'm sure."

They reached his office. Tseng stood behind his chair as the various junior Turks filed in.

"Is everyone here? Okay. Anyone want to say anything?"

Riana, a junior Turk and a close friend of Elena, stepped forward.

"Elena text me. She'll be late tonight. Got hurt."

"She okay?" Tseng asked, much too casually. If any other member of the Turks got so much as a paper cut, he brought in a Med-team to make sure it wasn't paper with poisoned edges planted by an enemy of Shinra.

"I think so. Apparently some idiot left a rose on her pillow and she cut her throat on the thorns."

Tseng flinched. "Ouch. Did she say who it was?"

Ree grinned. "No, but I have a fair idea. Trying to kill her doesn't do much for his prospects."

Several people laughed. Tseng twitched uncomfortably, but rallied magnificently and got down to business. The small crowd gradually dispersed as people received assignments. When all the postings had been handed out and the others began to disperse, Ree asked "Should I go see Elena? Make sure she's okay?"

Tseng waved a hand dismissively. "If she was capable of texting you, I'm sure she's fine."

"It might have been a poisoned rose," Reno pointed out, grinning. "Or one of those plants that attack people."

"If somebody could get that close, they'd just cut her throat."

"Fair point."

Reno and Rude left the office together, in true Turk fashion making a beeline for the nearest bar.

"Y'know, you'd think he'd be more concerned."

"Tseng? Nah. He's been depressed ever since he's realized that every time he tries to ask her out one of them almost dies."

"But wasn't he unusually happy today? You don't think..."

They both burst out laughing.

-

Incidentally, 'Deliver the Genesis File' somehow made it into Shinra company slang for a romantic encounter.

- - - - - - - - - - -

* * *

_Y'know,I think I can get another few chapters out of this. Originally, it was just a practice run to see if I could do a decent romance fic,(and I thought they'd be a cute couple to do) but It's grown on me since. Will I keep going? Please Review._


	7. Chapter 7:Tseng

**Chapter 7 –Tseng**

_Never__ form attachments as part of the job._ All Turks had that lesson rammed into them in their training. _As a rule, Turks don't live long. You'll just get burned._ Some people found that a slightly selfish rule. It was perfectly okay for a non-Turk to be racked with grief when their Turk husband or wife got murdered. What Shinra had really meant was that employees grieving for each other impaired efficiency.

But then, there was another school of thought that said _Always __form attachments with somebody capable of defending themselves, otherwise your enemies will use them against you._ And that was a good point too. Maybe Shinra wanted people so confused they had no time for love.

For those people, there was the grey area. _Keep any attachments you make secret._ But that was risky, if somebody found out they could blackmail you. And that led either to vulnerability or murder. Sometimes both. Murder led to investigation, and investigation led to possible discovery. Even if you succeeded in covering your trail, you would always be nervous that a sharp nosed journalist or P.I. would unearth it. Tseng had seen good men ruined by paranoia.

Besides, it was too late for that. He'd handled the business with the rose badly. He should never have left it. Or, failing that, he should have sent an investigation team to see if it had been poisoned, like Reno had said. Everyone knew he didn't take chances. So the only reason he didn't bother sending an investigation team would be that he knew-knew for certain- who had left it. And once they'd gotten that far, anyone could have deduced the rest.

So...all that was left was..._Never make attachments, period._ He didn't intend to use it forever, just until he figured out what he should do. He didn't want to rush his decision. The wrong one might be fatal. Pathetic logic, some might say. They'd probably be right.

After considering for some time, he took a coin from his pocket.

_Heads yes, Tails no._

It arced across the table, somehow spinning away from his attempt to catch it and landing in a corner of the room...on its edge. In spite of his dark mood, Tseng burst out laughing.

_Tsk...Don't see that happening too often._

The second coin toss disappeared through a crack in the floor. Sighing, he stood up.

With the Fates glorying in his indecision, there was only one thing any self respecting Turk could do. Go get drunk. But any bar he went to would probably hold some of the Turks. There was only one bar in Edge where no Shinra employee dared to go. Tifa's Seventh Heaven.

On the way, he phoned Elena and told her his decision. She hung up before he'd finished. As best as he could tell, she wasn't pleased, but it was impossible to divine much information from a single inarticulate "Mmmm!" anyway For all he knew, she could be delighted.

* * *

Yes, this one's pretty weak. Sorry. 


	8. Chapter 9:Both

**Drunken Musings –Both**

At a table in the corner, trying to remain as unobtrusive as possible while screaming at a waitress to refill his drink, Tseng was beginning to enjoy himself. Whatever else about the place, it was an excellent bar. Expensive, but then, it was a lot safer than most of the others. Nobody was about to start a riot in the same room as Cloud, Barrett, Cid, Vincent and Tifa. Even if the first four in that list were either drunk or en route. Yuffie was left fuming outside the door because she was underage for another month. Witnessing her tantrum alone was worth the risk involved in coming here.

After his third drink, while watching Cloud try hard to keep his temper while being constantly approached by drunks saying something along the lines of "Yew call that a knoife? _This_ is a knoife!" and brandishing either increasingly huge weapons or random objects varying from spoons to salt cellars to expired train tickets, he was surprised to find Tifa approaching him. Absent mindedly catching the drink of a man at the next table as it fell without looking at it, she handed it back to its bemused owner and sat down at the table across from Tseng.

"Can't say I expected to see you here. Most Shinra staff avoid this place."

"Am I getting tossed out?"

"Of course not! Turks drink more than any three of my normal regulars. It's good for business."

"So why're you talking to me?"

"Habit, mostly. I talk to everyone whose new here for advertising purposes. Have fun, tell your friends, et cetera, et cetera. So what disaster happened at Shinra that you don't dare show your face anywhere employees might be? Another Meteor? More Sephiroth Clones? An undiscovered toenail of Jenova wreaking havoc?"

"Um...not that I know of."

"Ah...then it must be something to do with a particular employee you want to avoid? Women trouble?"

_Mental note: Come here again. Not many bars give you free therapy sessions along with your drink._

"You don't have a degree in psychology or telepathy or something, do you?"

"Then I'm right?"

"Yup."

"No, but when you're doing this as long as I have, you get to know people's different drinking styles. See that guy?" She nodded towards a guy in the shadows of the opposite corner. "He's you. Not talking to anyone, not interested in anything. Drinking to get drunk, to drown his regrets, to find answers. Now the other guy there, the guy with the monocle and the top hat, he's drinking because he doesn't have anything else to do and is bored. And the cross eyed guy at the bar with the two holsters, he's-"

"I haven't seen those last two."

"That's because I made them up. I was trying to see if you were still listening. So what's your trouble?"

"Didn't you just tell me?"

"Yeah, sorry. So...Elena, right?"

"How'd you know that?"

"When I was in the Temple of the Ancients, Aeris asked it to show us a picture of Sephiroth. You were in it briefly. So was she."

"...Ah."

"So what's the problem?" Unnoticed by him, Tifa began counting under her breath.

"Turks make a lot of enemies during their career. It's dangerous. I don't want to get her involved if I'm going to get her killed."

Tifa collapsed laughing. "Four seconds."

"Four seconds what?"

" 'It's dangerous. I don't want to get you involved.' Cloud's favourite line. The reason he slept in a church for the past two years." She sobered. "I mean, you'd think he'd know by now that I'm capable of defending myself. I survived working at a bar in the Midgar slums. I survived Sephiroth, and Loz, and Scarlet's gas chamber."

"Yeah, but...how many times has he had to rescue you so far?"

"That's just it! I didn't need to be rescued! Not from Corneo, not from Loz, not from anyone! But he insists on doing it anyway! It gets annoying. I guarantee you, as soon as he sees me talking to you, he'll come over to act as my bodyguard."

"Quite a high opinion of yourself, haven't we?"

"Says the guy who thinks his girlfriend is beneath him."

"WHAT? I didn't say that!" The shout had finally caused Cloud to look up, and subsequently rise and advance. Tseng's eyes flicked to the door, measuring relative distances, but he realized he wouldn't get there, and remained in his seat, keeping his face impassive. Tifa answered him levelly.

"Well, you clearly have no faith in her ability to defend herself, anyway. Answer me this...have you asked her her opinion on your decision?"

"I haven't-" _met her yet since! And I haven't decided anything anyway! _He couldn't say that actually verbally because by this point there was twin swords crossed at his throat.

"What are you doing here!"

"Me? Having a drink, Cloud, same as you." He kept his hands on the table. The room was rapidly emptying as people saw the blades.

"Not spying for Shinra?"

"Spying? If I was, I probably wouldn't walk in in full uniform, would I? Especially since you know my face anyway. Shall I finish the drink or leave?" He was proud of how impassive he kept his face during that exchange, while inside he was terrified. Even more impressively, he got out of the building alive.

- - - - - - - - -

_One day later..._

Elena, now fully recovered, celebrated the newfound new use of her jaw in true Turk fashion, which, of course meant going drinking. Coincidentally, several of the other Turks happened to be at the bar she went to. This wasn't particularly surprising, as the bar she went to was the nearest one to the New Shinra Bldg, and the odds of finding any Turk in there, no matter what time of day, no matter what crisis was going on, was almost a certainty. Before she'd been there an hour she was joined by almost the entire Turk staff that was off duty. Tseng had suddenly been very distant to her, polite and functional, but she wasn't somebody who went to pieces easily over something like that. Which was why it was so annoying that everyone was trying to comfort her.

"I'm fine!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Are you sure?"

"If I say no, will you leave me alone? You've been talking at me for at least half an hour."

Once all those people had been dealt with, her actual close friends spent the entire evening mocking her about them. One guy had lost 300 gil because he thought she'd have to attack them to get them to leave her alone. It'd have been a shame. Shinra employees couldn't get away with killing people indiscriminately anymore. Now, they had to give an explanation afterwards. 'Because they were annoying' probably wouldn't be seen as a valid excuse.

Duty called, and one by one the others were forced to return to their posts or went to some other bar. Ree arrived late, along with Reno and Rude and two more junior Turks. They took seats nearby.

"Hey. Anything interesting happen since we last saw you?"

"Not much. I can talk again, as you've noticed by now."

"Well, whatever you did, you really pissed off Tseng. He walked into Seventh Heaven last night, presumably in an attempt to avoid you. That or commit suicide."

"Not me. Him. He decided I was too dangerous to be around."

"Well, he's obviously lying then. I mean, you're both professional assassins, how more dangerous can it get?"

"Heh. Thanks, Ree. Maybe I'll ruin his reputation."

"I doubt it. He never seemed to mind his reputation as a bloodthirsty Wutaien traitor who kills everyone who looks at him cross eyed. Cutting your throat with a cunningly planted rose just adds to that image. Although I guess it does act as a deterrent for other girls, so he may want to distance himself from tha-"

"Wait. Have you ever noticed that whenever he tries to move in on you, one or both of you almost die?" Reno said suddenly.

Elena blinked. Yes...there it was. Temple of the Ancients, he asked her out, and got cut up by Sephiroth. He healed...tried again, they both fell into that Tonberry Hive. Healed again, got shot by angry mob protesting against Shinra's lack of concern for the people. The pattern continued, right up to before they went to the North Cave where they were captured. And then, afterwards, they finally got somewhere...she cut her throat on the rose he left behind. And now he was scared of her. And even worse, rightfully so.

"This is weird..."

"Yeah, I thought so too. Still, he likes you too much to quit. If you make any effort at all, you'll be back on speaking terms by the end of the week, I guarantee it."

"You think I should? I mean..."

"Speaking terms, I said. I'm not saying you should marry him. But since you're going to be working together for the next...I dunno, couple of years at least, maybe more, you'd better be able to talk to each other without an interpreter."

"Hmmm...I guess you're right...I should probably try. Thanks."

"Any time, kid."

"You just don't understand kids today, O venerable Sage who has lived to the ripe old age of Twenty Five."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Despite the awkward silence, she left the bar twenty minutes later in a much better mood.

* * *

This was getting a little too...cute for me, so I had to inject a little bit of uncertainty into it. Sorry. Fluffiness just isn't my thing 


	9. Chapter 9:Tseng, I think, I'm not sur

_It's amazing how this story grew. Originally, it was just me wondering if I could do romance and deciding to try it out. In case anyone's interested, Ree is an upcoming character in another fic of mine called Survivor._

N.B. I am in no way condoning child abuse or suggesting that it is funny, and if anyone takes offence contact me and I will remove the paragraph immediately.

**Reconciliation**

After he left the bar, with his conversation with Tifa replaying in his mind, he went home to figure things out. After some more thinking, he finally came to the same conclusion Reno had. That was why he was scared to try, personal fear of a curse, not some misplaced concern that association with him would somehow make her life more dangerous. They were the most visible arm of a company whose power had plummeted, a company famous for apathy towards the public and erroneously believed to have directly caused Meteorfall. How could things get _more _dangerous? Satisfied that he wasn't lying to himself anymore, and disgusted with his theory (he'd never believed in curses, but the evidence was there to support it, and, and, as a Turk, he accepted what happened, good or bad), he went into work in a more depressed, but less unsettled mood than he'd had beforehand.

He spent his unoccupied moments wondering how to bring up his theory when he got a chance to talk to Elena. _It has come to my attention that we are under a curse...No Hey, kid, you realize that...no. _Perhaps he should just strike up a conversation and wait for it to get around to evil spells used for destroying one's enemies.

When Elena walked up, some time later as he was walking to his office, Rude and Reno discreetly faded into the background, leaving them alone. Tseng didn't acknowledge her, still wrestling with conversational quirks. Shrugging, she started talking anyway.

"What's up with you? Silent treatment, eh? Oh well, if you can't speak to me you can't tell me to shut up, which is a first. Since you are clearly not listening to me, I can safely spout gibberish from this point on.

"Anywho, the traditional method of cheering you up would be to drag you into the nearest janitor's closet, but the problem with janitor's closets is that they are often occupied by janitors, who will be less than pleased at having to sterilize their brooms for the third time in half an hour, due to the number of couples who are also aware that janitor's closets make good hiding places. They might even tape it and blackmail us with it, which, if they do that to everyone they find, will eventually result in janitors ruling the world. So maybe it's better to break the mould.

"Let's see, so my other options are...the backseat of a car? Not one I'm particularly fond of. I had a bad experience with that once. It's claustrophobic and everything, and if you accidentally hit the handbrake in a fit of passion you could easily roll off the nearest cliff. Suppose I was lucky, really, surviving a three hundred foot fall, but you should have seen the doctor's face when I told her what happened. Damn near asphyxiated herself laughing.

"Then there's various parks, and places, but they can be cold, and being mauled by an angry Kalm Fang when you are unarmed and naked is not a pleasant experience, believe me. Not to mention the awkward explanations afterwards. Luckily for me, I got the same doctor. All she said was 'Another Date?' And left it at that.

"After that, I kinda gave up on men. There was this one cute guy, though, and after a few months we ended up at the back of a cinema. Ordinarily that's good, it's warm, dry, dark and noisy, so nobody will really notice. Plus you'll usually not be the only ones...unless you take a wrong turn and wander into _Barney's Great Adventure _by mistake and end up getting sued by the parents of a six year old kid who is now scarred for li-" She cut off as Tseng collapsed against the nearest wall, laughing himself hoarse.

Grinning, she turned to him in mock outrage. "Hey, it's not funny! Those were deeply scarring experiences!" It was some minutes before he'd stopped laughing enough to speak, and even then it was between gasps for breath.

" I think...we may...be better suited...to a...conventional...bed."

She considered. "Maybe...not very inventive, though." She blinked. "We?"

"Of course." He picked her up and kissed her, not caring who was watching. "All this time I've been zoning out when you talk. I never realized it was actually interesting. Did any of that stuff actually happen?"

"Of course not. I'm only twenty two, I couldn't possibly have gotten through that many guys, allowing for healing time and jail time for public order offenses and child abuse." This time they both started laughing.

"So...what happens now? Janitor's closets are out, so where else is there?"

"Won't I ruin your image?"

"Who cares what people think? Besides, professional assassins usually don't have much to laugh at, so you're worth it."

"Have you noticed that every time we go anywhere, one or both of us..."

"Almost dies? Yeah, I realized that last night. If it happens, it happens. Do you think it's possible to get life insurance against evil curses? We could make a fortune!

Tseng was caught totally by surprise as her full armed punch hit him squarely in the jaw. If she hadn't caught his collar, he would probably have fallen fifteen stories through the nearest window.

"Now that's _really_ offensive! First you walk away from me, then when you change your mind you expect me to fall into your arms like a brainless kid! I'm sorry to say I'm not quite that stupid, sir. If you want good will, you are going to have to work for it!" She stalked off without another word.

Stunned, Tseng spat out a tooth. He could have her killed for that! But he wouldn't. Because she was right. When he'd made the decision to shut her out, he hadn't asked her opinions or feelings. She wasn't stupid enough not to notice. Now he'd have to win back _her _respect. And she was not about to make that easy for him. But he'd have to try.

- - - - - - - - -

"My congratulations, Lena," Reno said, laughing. "That has to be the most original technique I've ever seen. Remind me never to ask you out."

"Hey, I got him to talk to me, didn't I?"

"Yes, but then why'd you hit him?"

"You know why. I'm not at his beck and call, an accessory perching on his arm taking what I'm given, and he has to learn that."

"You think it worked?"

She smiled. "We'll see."

"Y'know, it's funny...the more you get beaten up, the more determined he gets, did you notice that? With the prospect of certain death ahead of you, he's more cheerful than I've seen him in years. Getting tortured really boosted your prospects."

"Damn, you're perceptive. My ploy has failed! I was sure nobody knew I was paying Kadaj and co. to shoot, stab, electrocute and generally beat the crap out of me in order to almost die and become crippled for life in a devious attempt to slightly improve working relations with my boss. Mwahahaha!"

"...Touché. Y'know, you didn't need to put quite that much sarcasm into it. I get the idea. And lose the maniacal laughter at the close." A pause, then "Are you really crippled for life?"

"Not that I know of. That was my _goal_, not what actually happened."

"Why, Reno, you jealous of Tseng?" A passing employee (who happened to be the same one who earlier interpreted Rude's, 'Wark!' comment) had stopped to listen in.

"Do you follow me around?"

"Yep. I'm collecting blackmail material against the day I become President of the company. Thanks for asking. Any dark secrets you feel like talking about?"

"Not particularly. And for the record, no I'm not jealous. I mean, there's such a thing as taste..."

"Hey! I'm still here!" The planet clearly had a grudge against him.

"Oh, well pardon me for not proposing on the spot. Just cause you look like that airhead receptionist from downstairs..."

"Y'know, receptionists are usually chosen for beauty..."

"Didn't I tell you to go away?"

"How'm I supposed to collect blackmail material if nobody talks to me!?" The man stalked off in a huff. With the W.R.O. imposing severe restrictions on necessary security staff, the building was full of such crackpots. The two Turks managed to last until he turned the corner before collapsing laughing.

- - - - - - -

Later that night, Tseng arrived at her house.

"You here for revenge?" was her opening remark. Her tone was light, but he noted her hand drifting towards opposite sleeves.

"Kinda. Look, I'm sorry about shutting you out, I should have asked first."

"Well, it's a start. Was there anything else?"

"May I come in?"

"Hmm...no, I don't think so. I can come out, though. Had you anywhere in mind?"

"No, but I'll think of something on the way."

"Okay. I'd ask you to come in while I changed, but with Edge in ruins, anything impractical would be covered in dust by the time we got to wherever we are going, so I might as well come with you now."

"Right. Watch your step."

"Thanks, Gwamma."

"Oh, shut up."

And gradually things escalated from there.

- - - - - - - - -

That's all, folks! Thanks for reading. The Question...can I do a believable romance? Please review!


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